Harry Potter and the Mysteries of the Unknown
by Saffron Halifax
Summary: Harry's Sixth Year written after HBP and so is totally AU, although I do try to stick to Canon as much as possible. Harry's making new relationships with old friends and acquiring new skills will it be enough or will Darkness prevail?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer – All characters are JK Rowling's, not my own,**

**A/N – Ok, not a good chapter, but bear with me and read the second. I'm not great at starting stuff but hopefully it will get better! **

It was a warm, sunny morning in the middle of July, and most of the residents of Privet Drive were out in their pristine gardens, enjoying the heat, but being careful to show off how their flowerbeds were flourishing at the same time. There was only one resident of the street who was not outside, who hadn't, in fact, been outside for some time. This resident was a 15 year old boy, with unruly black hair and vibrant green eyes. This boy was Harry Potter.

At this moment in time, Harry Potter was lying on his bed in the second bedroom at number four, Privet Drive, in the same position in which he had been lying for the last few hours, staring morosely at the ceiling. In fact, Harry Potter had been sat in this position for the past few days, only moving when he needed to use the bathroom, which wasn't often as he wasn't eating much either. The only other time that Harry Potter moved was to write letters to his friends, or when they wrote to him, as he didn't want them to come to Privet Drive and find him like this.

Harry Potter is in fact a wizard, who has been attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the past five years. In his last year, only a month ago, he had lost his godfather Sirius Black, in a battle against Lord Voldemort, his mortal enemy. This was the reason as to why Harry had been lying so still for the past few days. He had been thinking. Hard.

During the first few weeks of the holidays, Harry had been feeling incredibly upset, and incredibly guilty, as it had been him that had caused Sirius to go to the Department of Mysteries in the first place. However, after a week or so of feeling sorry for himself, Harry realised, along with many, many insistent letters from Hermione, and even a couple from Ron, that it wasn't entirely his fault, and there was no point in beating himself up about it. There was work to do and training to be done, not for school, as he would have no homework until he received his OWL results, but for the upcoming war, and the battle that he knew he must have with Voldemort. It was this that Harry had been thinking the most about during the last couple of days. The prophecy that Professor Dumbledore had revealed to him the day that Sirius had died; the prophecy that foretold that either he or Voldemort had to kill the other.

He had reached the conclusion that he would work as hard as possible during the next year, in order to become as strong as possible – as strong as he needed to be to defeat Voldemort. With this new determination, Harry finally rose from his bed and headed for the bathroom to take a shower, then wrote letters to his friends, asking when he would be allowed to leave Privet Drive. He was eager to begin as soon as possible, yet he couldn't access the wizarding world as he needed to whilst he was stuck in his muggle house with his aunt and uncle.

The next few days passed in a blur; Harry had a new found energy, and, much to his relatives' consternation, a new found optimism. He found himself whistling and singing as he went about his various chores knowing that he could do something about the situation, and not have to wait for Voldemort to come to him. Of course, he was still deeply upset about Sirius, but felt that Sirius would have wanted him to get revenge rather than sit around moping. Eventually it was July 30th, the night before his birthday. Harry sat at his desk, furiously taking notes from his fifth year Defence Against the Dark Arts text book. Although Harry was sure he had done well, and would be able to carry the subject on to NEWT level, he hadn't gone as far as ordering books yet, as he felt that might be tempting fate, so he had to put up with his old textbook, getting as much information as he could. Eventually, he put down his quill and glanced at the clock: 23:58. Two more minutes until he was sixteen. Smiling slightly, he rolled up his parchment and put it back into his trunk, gazing out into the navy sky. Sure enough, after a few minutes, he spotted a dark shape gliding towards his window, then another, then another. He opened the window, and stood aside to let the four owls enter his room, then ducked as a fifth whistled past his head with an excited hoot. Wincing slightly, Harry caught the over-excited owl first, muttering "Shut up Pig!" as he did so. Retrieving the letter from the small owl's leg was easier said then done, but he managed it, and poked an owl treat into Pig's mouth to keep him quiet. If the hyperactive owl woke up the Dursleys, there would be hell to pay.

Smiling, Harry opened the letter he knew would be from Ron;

_Hey Harry! Happy Birthday!_

_We're at you-know-where and we're not technically supposed to send anything, as you know, but we managed to persuade mum to go to Dumbledore, and he relaxed the rules for your birthday! Hermione says I've got to write a long letter to make up for it, but you'll just have to live with what you get – when I run out of things to say I'll stop, you can get the rambling from her!_

_Well, your present. I couldn't send it to you with Pig 'cos Dumbledore said it would be too noticeable, so we're going to give it to you when you get here! It won't be long mate I promise, but I can't say anymore, you know why. Hopefully it won't be intercepted but you never know. Ginny and the twins say hi, and so do Bill and Charlie. See you soon mate,_

_Ron_

Laughing, Harry folded up the letter and rolled his eyes. He was frustrated at the lack of information but, unlike last year, he now understood why, and was satisfied to wait until he was able to join them at Grimmauld Place. Next, he took a letter from a handsome tawny owl, who gave a satisfied nod; them promptly spread her wings and flew elegantly out of the window. Bemused, Harry glanced at the parchment, and then laughed as he recognised Hermione's writing. He assumed she must have bought an owl during the summer and, he thought, she had definitely chosen the right one; the bird acted just like her!

_Dear Harry!_

_Happy Birthday! As you've probably realised, mum and dad bought me a new owl! She's called Kia, isn't she beautiful?_

_As Ron has probably already explained to you, we can't send our gifts here as they would be too conspicuous, so we can give them to you when we see you. Gosh, I hope we're together when we get our OWL results, and I hope it's soon. I've been terribly nervous, I'm sure I did badly in Ancient Runes, I know I mixed up at least two, and I didn't do as well as I would have liked in Defence either, though I did much better than I would have if it hadn't been for the DA of course. Are you carrying that on this year by the way? I think you should, I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore would let you, and it would be ever so useful for fighting You-Know-Who. That's another thing actually; I've started to say His name now, Ron keeps yelling at me every time, saying that it's bad enough that you do it. I'm not going to stop though – fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself. In fact, I think that you should teach that in the DA if you decide to carry it on. Ok I've got to go now, Harry, Mrs Weasley's shouting us for dinner and I need to write to my parents tonight too, that's why I've told Kia to come straight back, I hope you don't mind. We'll be seeing you really soon Harry, hang in there,_

_Love, Hermione._

Smiling, Harry fondly folded up the paper and shook his head; trust Hermione to be so nervous about her exam results. He was happy that she wanted him to continue the DA though; even if they had a good Defence teacher this year, it would still be useful for students to learn how to defend themselves. Glancing at the other two owls, he recognised Hagrid's writing and smiled as he read the short note that wished him happy birthday, and told him that he would be seeing him soon. He also recognised the other owl as Errol, the Weasley family owl, who enclosed a note from Mrs Weasley saying that she hoped that she would be seeing him soon. Feeling much happier, Harry set all the letters down on his desk, and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, he showered and dressed, then went into the kitchen to begin making breakfast for the Dursleys; he woke at least half an hour earlier than any of them and therefore had to make their breakfast. When his aunt and uncle finally arose (Dudley wouldn't be up for another couple of hours at least), Harry returned to his bedroom, where he started to make notes from his fifth year potions textbook; he had never really paid much attention in potions, as his least favourite professor, Snape, taught it, but last year, Professor McGonagall had told him that he would need potions at NEWT level to become an auror, so he felt that he had to start taking it seriously. He was so engrossed in his note taking, that he didn't hear the doorbell ring, or the voices below until,

"POTTER!"

Jumping, Harry turned around and frowned at the stairs; his uncle had refrained from shouting at him since he had been threatened by Mad-Eye Moody at Kings Cross on his return from school. Puzzled, Harry went downstairs, then stopped as he saw three of the most unexpected people in his living room. Remus Lupin, Tonks and Bill Weasley were stood in front of his relatives, grinning brightly.

"Wotcher Harry!"

"Hey Tonks! Hi Bill, Professor. What are you all doing here?"

"We're leaving Harry, shortly I might add, so I suggest we go and grab your stuff. I'll give you a hand." Lupin smiled, and ushered a grinning Harry out of the room and up the stairs.

As they entered Harry's bedroom, Lupin turned round and looked Harry up and down.

"You look much better than you did at the start of the summer."

Harry frowned, and then grinned. "So do you."

Remus laughed. "Fair enough."

He then glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Harry's neatly packed trunk. "Have you even unpacked this?"

"Only for what I needed. Last time you didn't exactly give me much notice, and it took me ages to disentangle my socks from Tonks' last attempt."

Lupin laughed again then shrugged. "Well that saves us some time I suppose. Anything else you need? Right, let's go and stop Bill and Tonks from killing your relatives then."

"Do we have to? I think it would be quite entertaining!"

"So do I but I'm sure the Dursleys wouldn't. Besides, we've only got three minutes until we leave."

"How are we getting there?"

"Floo powder. The Ministry are having to bow down to Dumbledore because of last year, so he's using it to our advantage."

As Remus finished, he and Harry stepped into the living room, to find Dudley cowering behind his mother, his hands clamped over his overly large behind. Mr Dursley was purple with rage, with white blotches where his fear was clearly showing. His wife was stood next to him, one hand clamped over her mouth, the other trying to shield her son. In front of them stood Tonks, her hair flashing, rainbow colours and an amused looking Bill.

Vernon spotted Harry and Lupin immediately, and gathered what little courage he had.

"Potter, get the hell out of our house and stay out! We've brought you up from when you were a baby, fed you and clothed you, and this is how you treat us, this is the respect we get?!"

"You have hardly looked after him," replied Remus calmly, though his posture was stiff and tense. "You have shown as much neglect as you legally could and have never gone out of your way to show any care or love for your nephew. Did you know, for example, that his godfather was killed in June by Lord Voldemort, and that he narrowly avoided the same fate?"

At this, Uncle Vernon smirked at Harry, completely ignoring the fact that his nephew had almost died just a month ago. "Your godfather's dead is he? The murderer finally impaled on his own sword." Suddenly a light flashed in Vernon's eyes. "Say, did he leave you any money? As your guardians, we are legally entitled to 'hold' it for you until you're of age…"

"Actually, when Sirus died, he passed magical guardianship of Harry over to me, and therefore I decide what Harry gets to do with what Sirius left him." Remus had stepped next to Harry and put a hand on his shoulder. As a result of this statement, Mr Dursley had turned even more purple than Harry thought possible, but was not given the chance to retaliate, as at this moment, Bill cleared his throat and said calmly,

"The first signal has just been given. We have one minute."

Nodding, Harry picked up his trunk and, with Bill's help, dragged it over to the fireplace, where Remus and Tonks joined them.

"Now, Harry, Bill's going to go first, to check if the coast is clear. A signal will then be given, and you'll go through with Remus, then I'll follow, is that ok?"

Harry nodded at the Auror, then stepped back to let Bill through. After a couple of seconds, red sparks spitted up out of the fire and Bill dropped in Floo Powder, saying clearly "The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix,"

before disappearing from view. Glancing up, Lupin nodded at Harry and said, quietly, "Think about where it is whilst you're saying it, it works the same as if you were entering it from the outside."

Tonks, who had been watching the fire intently, said "Remus, Harry, go."

Picking up his trunk, Harry followed Lupin into the fire, thinking hard of 12 Grimmauld Place before saying "The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix." He then felt the familiar, unpleasant sensation of travelling by floo, until he saw the cold, hard floor of the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, and put his hands out to stop him. Accepting Lupin's hand to help him up, he dumped his trunk in a corner, and then followed Lupin up the stairs and out of the kitchen, being careful on the landing not to wake Mrs. Black up. They pushed open a door on the other side of the hall, where Harry was immediately grabbed into a hug by Hermione, whilst Ron punched him lightly on the arm, grinning. Looking around, Harry saw the Weasleys all beaming at him and smiled. He was home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer – Characters are Rowling's not mine.**

Harry soon settled into life back at Grimmauld Place. He spent the first few days with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins, who filled him in on the events before he had arrived.

"There was an Order meeting last night, something must have happened, it sounded serious…"

"Snape was here, so was McGonagall, they didn't look too happy."

"Hermione got here a couple of days before you did; said her parents were going to Italy and wouldn't be back before the start of school…"

In between these discussions, he was gaining more weight each day, as Mrs. Weasley insisted that he have second helpings at every meal that she served. "Those muggles, I swear one of these days, you're going to come back and you'll be nothing but skin and bone…" Ron of course, didn't have a problem with this, and willingly served himself thirds and even fourths at every meal.

After the settling in period however, things became much more serious. Harry informed his friends of his plan to train harder this year, and they all agreed – Hermione excitedly and Ron somewhat reluctantly – that this was an excellent idea and that they would all join in. They didn't know the real reason of course, although Harry could tell that Hermione was suspicious, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to hide the Prophesy from them for much longer. For now, however, he was quite content to keep things how they were. As a result, the four teenagers, joined more often than not by Fred and George, spent a great deal of time in the Black library, which Lupin had been more than happy to point them to when they told him their reasoning.

Soon, Harry found that he had been at Headquarters for a week, and, despite Sirus' death and the sombre atmosphere, he had been enjoying himself more than he had any other summer. Tonks and Lupin frequently joined the Weasley family at Headquarters; Lupin had inherited Grimmauld Place from Sirius in his Will, and quite happily allowed the Weasleys to stay there as much as they wanted. He and Tonks stayed whenever they were able, as they often went on missions for the Order, and Tonks still had her Auror duties. Other members of the Order dropped by from time to time, mostly before meetings, or when they had to report things to other Order members. Alastor Moody was often seen stomping about the hallway, and they spotted McGonagall and Snape from the balcony after a particularly late meeting, in which everyone exited looking anxious and even a little fearful. The twins were having no success in creating Extendable Ears which penetrated Mrs. Weasley's Imperturbable charm, so the group were forced to watch from the balcony, and glean what little information they could from Lupin, Tonks, Bill and Charlie, who all felt a little sorry for them.

The group developed a routine; after breakfast each morning, they would go to the library and find what information they could about hexes and jinxes that could help them against Death Eaters. There were hundreds of books in the library, most of which were focused on the Dark Arts. Harry wasn't surprised by this, and found that some of the spells were useful to know, even if he would never use them, because at least they would know what they could be up against. Tonks had provided some useful books from her Auror training, which helped immensely with their training; none of them other than Fred and George were able to practise the spells yet, as they weren't 17, the legal age for the wizarding world. However, Fred and George were more than willing to trial the spells, so that they could at least see their effects.

Ron complained loudly about the session each morning, but Harry knew that secretly he didn't mind it as much as he said, and was itching to try some of the spells out on Malfoy as soon as they returned to Hogwarts. Hermione, of course, was overjoyed that they were taking their studies so seriously; she had apparently been driving Ron mad before Harry came over the lack of work that she had to do; they had not received any homework, as they were not sure which classes they would be taking until their OWL results came.

After this revision session they would return to the kitchen for lunch, and then they would spend the afternoon playing chess (in Harry and Ron's case), developing inventions (Fred and George) and studying even more (Hermione). After dinner, they would sit with whoever happened to be at Grimmauld Place and glean as much information about the Order as they could.

As Harry awoke after his first week at Headquarters he rubbed his eyes blearily, yawned, and glanced at his watch. It showed him that it was 8:30am; half an hour until breakfast. Still yawning, he stumbled out of bed and headed for the shower, only to be stopped when he heard a shrill scream downstairs, followed quickly by the shrieks of Mrs. Black. Quickly deciphering the scream as Hermione's, he glanced behind him at Ron, who was swearing under his breath, then laughed as the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs reached his ears. Exchanging looks with a now more awake Ron; Harry grinned and headed towards the shower.

Some twenty minutes later, Harry and Ron strolled leisurely down the stairs; both fully awake, dressed and completely presentable. As they opened the door to the kitchen, both grinned, then laughed as they saw all the occupants of the house in various states of dressing (Tonks was still wearing her pyjamas) and all wearing similarly grumpy expressions.

"Ah, nothing like Hermione and OWL results to make a good alarm clock, is there Harry?"

"Nothing at all Ron; it's a good job that we were already awake, and that we've known Hermione for five years, otherwise we might have thought there was trouble, and come rushing down the stairs like these good people."

Whilst they had been saying this, the two grinning boys had sat themselves next to a trembling Hermione, served her and themselves some breakfast, and taken their school letters from an owl that looked, if owls could scowl, that that was exactly what it was doing. Glancing at Hermione's fearful expression, Harry smiled slightly and gently put her letter into her shaking hands. "'Mione, they're not going to open themselves…"

Scowling, Tonks glared at the trio and at the too-happy expressions on the two boys' faces. "You could have warned us, you gits!"

Grinning, Ron looked around the breakfast table, his mouth falling open in horror as he saw who was sat there. "Harry," he hissed, "Hermione!"

Frowning, Harry looked up, then in the direction in which Ron was facing, his face immediately falling into a similar horrified expression. Checking himself, he attempted to assume a neutral expression for sat across from them, at the end of the table, were none other that Professors McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore, as well as Hagrid, who was beaming at them obliviously.

Glancing sideways at Hermione, Harry said quietly, "Lets take them upstairs."

Nodding fervently, Ron picked up their letters, and said in a falsely bright voice, "Mum, Hermione's obviously not feeling too good, we'll take her upstairs and let her open her results in private."

"You'll do no such thing Ronald Weasley! Your professors have stayed especially to see your results, so you'll stay right here!"

For a brief moment, Harry seriously considered leaving Ron and disappearing upstairs on his own, but looking at his friend's pale face he grimaced and reached out for his letter, glancing at Hermione who was still staring at hers. "Hermione, do you want me to open it for you?"

His words seemed to shake her out of her stupor and she shook her head fervently, and began to open her letter, slowly at first, then she ripped it, desperate to see what results she had received. Before she read them though, she glared at her two friends until they too, opened theirs.

Ignoring the rest of the papers inside the envelope, Harry sifted through until he found his results and wincing slightly, started to read.

**Official Ordinary Wizarding Level Results for Harry James Potter**

**Test Centre – **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

**Test Subjects – **Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Potions, Defence against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Divination, Charms.

**Pass Grades; **

**O – Outstanding**

**E – Exceeds Expectations**

**A - Acceptable**

**Fail Grades;**

**P - Poor**

**D - Dreadful**

**T - Troll**

**Results for Harry James Potter;**

**Transfiguration – E**

**Herbology – E**

**Potions – E**

**C****harms - O**

**Care of Magical Creatures – O**

**Defence Against the Dark Arts – O**

**Astronomy – E (see postscript)**

**History of Magic – T**

**Divination – D**

**Astronomy – due to circumstances during the examination, results are not based purely on the test papers; work throughout the year and predicted grades from teachers have also been taken into account. **

Grinning, Harry pulled out the piece of paper that had been attached to his results and read;

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Congratulations on your recent Ordinary Wizarding Level results; you have been a credit to the school, the professors, and to yourself. Please find attached a list of possible subjects you are able choose to study next year – please choose wisely. I would like to personally congratulate you on your result for Defence Against the Dark Arts. You received a special commendation from your examiner, meaning that a mark this high has not been seen in this school for over a century. Please note that the school term will resume on 1st September, and the Hogwarts Express will leave Platform 9 ¾ on this date._

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress._

Stunned, Harry looked over at his friends, who both wore similar expressions to his. Hermione was reading hers over and over, as if she simply did not believe that they were right, whilst Ron was staring dazedly at his, muttering under his breath. The rest of the table was silent, although Harry did not have the courage to look up at their expressions. Finally, he managed to break the silence, and break Ron and Hermione out of their shock.

"Well? How did you do?"

Unfortunately, Hermione seemed to feel that she had to make up for the minutes of silence, with extra talking, resulting in the fact that Harry could not understand a word she was saying. Luckily, he had spent enough time with her to be able to interpret most of it. Holding up a hand to stop her mid-flow, he grinned and said, "Hedwig's already in your room, I sent her in there as soon as we realised the results were here. Me and Ron will tell you our results after you've owled your parents." Hermione beamed, hugged him, and then flew out of the room, leaving her letters scattered over the table. Hermione's lack of dignity had broken the tension slightly, and Harry and Ron grinned at each other before glancing at their results.

"Swap?" Ron held out his letter to Harry, who took it, and passed Ron his own. Scanning it, Harry was relieved to see that Ron had much the same grades as him, although he had received a T in Divination. When he looked at Ron's Defence result, Harry was delighted to see that he had earned an Outstanding, something which pleased him immensely.

Laughing, he slapped his mate on the back, forgetting momentarily the people that surrounded them. Grinning, Ron hit him back, and gestured at their defence results; "Always knew we had to be good at something, though we wouldn't have even passed the damn thing without you mate. That cow didn't teach us anything."

Harry laughed. "True, but you would; we learned too much before that to have failed it."

Glancing at each other, the other occupants of the table felt it was time to make themselves heard. Clearing her throat, Professor McGonagall smiled slightly and said; "Actually, every single person who took part in your – extra-curricular activities – received an O on either their OWL or NEWT, or over 100 on their exams."

Jumping slightly, as they had momentarily forgotten that their teachers were present, both boys flushed, and then gaped at each other open-mouthed.

"Oi, shut your mouths, you look like Crabbe and Goyle when they get an answer right," said Ginny, giggling, then, when both Harry and Ron shut their mouths but still seemed shocked, she clucked her tongue impatiently. "Oh come on, did you really expect anything less? The amount of stuff we learnt from Harry, coupled with the stuff we learnt before, and the motivation of getting one over on Umbridge, did you really think people weren't going to excel?"

Recovering quickly from his shock, Ron grinned at Harry, and then started eating as though he had been starved for months. "She's right you know 'arry," he said, spraying crumbs into Ginny's disgusted face. "Oops, sorry Ginny."

Shaking his head, Harry nodded slowly, still shocked, but he also felt a bit of pride creeping in. Eventually, he shook his head grinning and glanced at Fred and George; "Well between everybody here, we've certainly put her down a peg or two!"

Ron snorted; "We definitely made an impact!"

"Not enough of one though."

"She deserves way more than she got!"

"I mean come on, the lies were bad enough, but the Blood Quill…"

"…the Veritaserum…"

"…the Cruciatus…"

"…the Inquisitorial Squad…"

"…the Educational Degrees…"

"…sending Hagrid away…"

"…stunning Professor McGonagall…"

"…Filch…"

"…no, he was like that anyway…"

"…oh yeah…"

"Boys that's enough!" Mrs Weasley snapped, silencing Fred and George, and stared irritably at Ron, who was shovelling scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"What?!"

"What did you get?"

"Oh! I did pretty well; I got 7, only failed Divination and History of Magic, but who cares about them!"

"Oh Ronnie! 7 OWLs! That's more than the twins put together!"

Harry smirked as Ron was pulled into a hug by his mother, and then decided to rescue him, by standing up and suggesting that they should check to see if Hermione was ok.

"Yeah, good idea," Ron muttered, his ears bright red, trying desperately to ignore the sniggers of Fred, George, Bill, Charlie and Ginny. "Wonder what she got, anyway?"

"Hmmm, I'm going to use my wonderfully tuned Divination skills…"

"…mate, you got a D…"

"…that's beside the point; if the examiners had asked us to predict Hermione's OWL results; I would have gotten an O…"

"…the whole class would…"

"…true…anyway, as I was saying, using my wonderful Divination skills, I predict that Hermione got all Outstanding and the highest result the school has ever seen…"

He stopped mid-sentence as he heard Hermione clear her throat behind him, but didn't look at all abashed. "Was I right?"

"Well… yes actually," she blushed, "but that's not the point…"

She trailed off as both boys grinned and exchanged knowing glances. Glancing at Fred and George, Bill and Charlie, they nodded and the four elder Weasleys waved their wands causing a large banner to appear from nowhere and attach itself to the wall behind the table. Party streamers popped from the ceiling and writing magically appeared on the banner that read; "Congratulations Hermione on 12 Outstanding OWLS! Officially the smartest witch of her age!"

Hermione blushed even further and, grabbed the rest of her letter that she had left on the table, marched out of the room, though Harry was sure that he had seen her smile slightly as she left. Rolling their eyes, Harry and Ron went after her, catching up to her in the hallway.

"Hermione, wait!" Ron whispered, as she began to climb the stairs.

"What, so you can embarrass me further?" she muttered furiously, though both could she that she was fighting to keep a grin off her face.

"Oh come on, you loved it really!"

"No! It was embarrassing and humiliating! Especially in front of all of our professors!"

"I know, sorry about that, we weren't expecting them to be there."

"Did you see Snape's face though?" Ron interrupted delightedly. "He looked like he was going to be sick!"

All three of them laughed at this, even Hermione. "Ok, it was kind of nice, but you could have waited until the professors were gone…"

"We know; we're sorry Hermione."

She grinned and rolled her eyes, before glancing at her letters. Come on, let's go back in; I'm starving, and we've still got to choose what we're taking for NEWT."

Shaking their heads, Ron and Harry followed her back into the kitchen. Instead of eating though, Hermione immediately took out the letter which had all the possible classes that they could take at NEWT level; each had been modified for each person according to their OWL results, recommending certain classes, whilst informing them that they hadn't achieved a high enough grade to take others.

Shaking his head, Harry grabbed a piece of toast before following her example, and began to read his own letter;

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**Please find below a list of classes it is recommended that you should take at NEWT level. You should make a choice of between 2-6 classes; please choose carefully, as these choices will affect your future career path.**

**Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts**

**Advanced Charms**

**Advanced Transfiguration**

**Advanced Herbology**

**Advanced Potions**

**Advanced Duelling and Defence Techniques**

**Advanced Care of Magical Creatures**

**You also have a choice of electives, which are available to all Sixth Year students. These will run alongside your NEWT classes, and will enhance your CV once you have graduated from Hogwarts, consequently providing you with more opportunities with future employers. These are not compulsory, but are highly recommended for people wishing to go into the Ministry, or other esteemed organisations. Please choose 1-3 options;**

**Strategic Thinking**

**Healing**

**Wizarding Communication**

**Muggle Studies**

**Wizarding Finance and Mathematics**

**Business and Commerce**

**Written Skills**

**Wizarding Philosophy and Psychology**

**Personal Tutoring**

**Languages**

**Yours sincerely, **

**Professor M. McGonagall.**

Raising his eyebrows, he glanced at Ron, who was looking dumbfounded. Casting a furtive look at the professors, who were seemingly involved in a deep conversation at the other end of the table, Harry muttered "Did you get into Potions?"

Ron nodded, still shocked. "Yeah, but I only got an E…"

"I bet Dumbledore had something to do with it."

Ron agreed, then shrugged, and ticked the box next to Potions, then shuddered. "I never thought I'd willingly sign up for two more years with Snape."

Smiling slightly, Harry turned back to his own letter, and ticked the boxes next to Charms, Transfiguration, and Defence against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Duelling Techniques. He then hesitated, and glanced at Hagrid, who was abandoning all pretence, and watching them, beaming. When he saw Harry look at him, he gave him the thumbs up.

Wincing, Harry glanced at Hermione, who was glaring furiously at her parchment, then at Ron who was doing the same as him. "You're not taking Hagrid's class are you?"

Ron shook his head.

"I'm not, and I doubt Hermione will be either…"

"No-one's going to take it; he's going to hate us!"

"Thanks Ron, that makes me feel loads better."

"Come on Harry, you need Potions, and you don't need Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid'll get over it, eventually…"

Harry nodded. "I suppose. It doesn't make me feel any better though." Sighing, he picked up his quill and put a decisive tick next to Potions and moved onto the list of electives.

"You taking any of these?"

Ron nodded glumly. "Don't know which ones though; none of them look particularly interesting."

Harry grinned and nodded. "Hey, what about Strategic Thinking? You're great at chess, and that's what that's all about isn't it?"

Ron brightened and looked interestedly at his parchment. "Yeah…hey I wonder if you actually get to play chess. Hey, Hermione, you take it as well; that way, I can actually be better than you at something for once!"

Harry rolled his eyes, and waited for Hermione's retort, but she didn't answer. Instead, she was staring furiously at her parchment, casting odd glances at the teachers every few seconds. Furrowing his brow, Ron asked cautiously, "Hermione?"

Harry, however, thought he knew what was wrong, and was proved right a few seconds later by Hermione's outburst.

"Six! Six subjects! How in the name of Merlin am I supposed to pick just six subjects! It's impossible, I can't do it; I need them all!"

She looked close to tears, and was attracting a lot of attention from the other end of the table, so Harry moved quietly to sit on Hermione's other side, and he and Ron looked at her list intently. Immediately, Harry saw her problem; there were 12 subjects listed, all of which she had received an O on at OWL level. Resigning himself to a long afternoon of arguing, Harry looked read Hermione's list and winced as he saw the difficulty of the subjects.

"Hermione," he said carefully, "do you really need Muggle Studies? I mean, if you really want to do it, then you can do it as an elective, and anyway, didn't you drop it in third year?"

"I dropped the classes," Hermione snapped, "doesn't mean I can't do the exams. I haven't even looked at the electives yet; I wonder if they'd let me take an extra class instead of those."

"Well let's narrow down your list first, and then you can ask."

Biting her lip, Hermione nodded and began to scrutinise her list again. From next to Mrs. Weasley, Lupin looked on highly amused, before deciding to assist the frazzled teen.

"Maybe I could help?" he said mildly.

Immediately, Hermione looked up, and brightened. "Oh, would you really Professor? It's all so confusing, I'd love to take them all; maybe I could use the time turner again…"

"NO!" The table jumped simultaneously at Ron and Harry's outburst. Both had half-stood and were glaring at their friend.

"You are NOT going through that again!" snarled Ron. "Do you remember the state you were in?! You were a wreck! And that was third year! Third! It is physically impossible, not to mention that this time we have V...V…Voldemort on our backs, and we need you to be as strong as possible!"

It was perhaps Ron's first ever use of the word Voldemort that swayed Hermione, as she sighed and nodded. "Ok, I admit, I don't think I'll be able to do that again; I'll just have to come up with something else…"

Rolling his eyes, Harry exchanged glances with Ginny. "How long?" he mouthed, grinning as she giggled and mouthed back "Not soon enough!"

Shrugging, he turned back to his list of electives and considered them carefully. He selected Healing, as he imagined that it would be very useful during battles, and then also selected Strategic Thinking. Immediately had he done so, the parchment folded itself up and disappeared, reappearing next to Professor McGonagall, who read it, nodded, and then banished it, presumably to Hogwarts, with a wave of her wand. Confused, he glanced at his Head of House, who simply nodded at him and looked at Dumbledore, who smiled genially, in a way that Harry knew everything would be explained later.

Shrugging, but still confused, he turned back to his friends and watched Ron as he studied the electives once more. Seeing Harry looking at him, he winced and said "what are you taking?"

"Strategic Thinking and Healing; figured they'd be useful. I wanted to take something else as well, but McGonagall wouldn't let me."

Ron furrowed his brow. "Why not?"

"I don't know, I'm going to ask Dumbledore later when I get a chance. I want to ask him about the DA too."

"Are we carrying that on?"

"I dunno, I think so. Depends what Dumbledore says; it'd be useful to have extra defence tutoring, even along with the ones we're getting already. I wonder who the new Defence teacher is."

"They'd better be bloody good; I swear if we have another Umbridge, I'm going to do a Fred and George…"

"Ronald Weasley, you most certainly will not! You are a Prefect! You need to finish your education and set an example to other students. You…"

"Mum, calm down!" said Ron exasperatedly. "It was hypothetical! If we've got a good teacher, I'm all for staying!"

"Hmph! Well you'd better get your act together young man. Between you and Harry, you've lost more points in the last 5 years than Bill, Charlie and Percy did between them in the entire time that they were there, and you've nearly surpassed the twins!"

"Really?!" Ron looked rather proud and Harry had to stifle a snigger, but quickly calmed himself as both Mrs. Weasley and Hermione gave him disapproving looks.

"Wait, how do you know all this anyway? What do they do, send out a letter with a list of points we've lost at the end of each year?"

"Yes actually," Hermione sniffed, "it's more of a cumulative frequency really, they add all the points on to the previous years' total. I believe that you and Harry have lost around 1800 points between you now."

"How do you know that?!"

"I read Ronald."

"Wait let me guess….Hogwarts: A History?"

"And so what if it was…"

"Wait, what actually does it say on the lists Hermione?" Harry interrupted in an attempt to ward off yet another argument.

Glancing at him, Hermione shrugged. "Hang on; I'll get last year's for you."

Bemused, Harry, Ron and Fred and George exchanged glances as she ran out of the door, and reappeared a few minutes later clutching a piece of parchment, handing it to Harry, who was immediately surrounded by Ginny, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie and Tonks. The older members of the Order tried to hide their amusement, including the teachers, except Snape, whom no-one had noticed slip out.

"Hey, here's Ron…wow that's a lot of points. No wonder Mum was mad."

"Hey, have you seen you two…2010 points and you didn't even finish your Seventh Year! That's quite impressive."

"Yeah, says here that the only people to have lost more than that were the Marauders, and there were more of them. I reckon we've done quite well, don't you George."

"I think our heroes, and the founders of all pranks would be proud of us. After all, they've taught us all we know."

None of the younger members saw Harry and Remus stiffen at this banter, but those seated at the table saw their postures tense, and saw them each withdraw slightly from the buzz of conversation. As Harry was holding the parchment that everyone was reading, he couldn't move far, but he removed himself from the excitement, and stared into the flickering flames of the fire, dull emerald eyes unseeing; thinking about all he had lost.

Remus, however, was free to move as he wanted. Abandoning Hermione's letters on the table, he quietly excused himself and proceeded to shut himself into the peace of what had once been Sirius' rooms, mourning the loss of his friends; of his family.


End file.
